The slight slowdown in the inflation rate is due to the widening on a trend basis of the decline in the prices of non-regulated energy goods (from -10.3% to -13.9%) and to the deceleration in the prices of transport-related services ( from +4.5% to +2.9%), Various Services (from +2.3% to +1.8%), Non-durable Goods (from +2.0% to +1.5%) and unprocessed food (from +2.6% to +2.2%); on the other hand, there was an acceleration in the prices of tobacco (from +1.9% to +3.3%), recreational, cultural and personal care services (from +3.2% to +3.8 %) and regulated energy goods (with trend reversal from -13.8% to +0.8%).
In April, “underlying inflation”, net of energy and fresh food, decelerated from +2.3% to +2.2% and that net of energy goods alone from +2.4% to + 2.2%.
The trend dynamics of the prices of goods recorded a slightly larger decline (from -0.2% to -0.6%) and that of services was slightly decelerating (from +3.0% to +2.9%), resulting in an increase in the inflationary differential between the services and goods sectors (+3.5 percentage points, from +3.2 in March).
The prices of food, household and personal care goods are slowing down on a trend basis (from +2.6% to +2.4%), while those of high-frequency purchasing products are accelerating (from +2.5% to March % at +2.7%).
The cyclical increase in the general index mostly reflects the growth in prices of recreational, cultural and personal care services (+1.6%), tobacco products (+1.3%), related services to transport (+0.8%) and processed food goods (+0.5%). The effects of these increases were only partially offset by the decrease in the prices of regulated (-8.2%) and non-regulated (-1.8%) energy goods.
The acquired inflation for 2024 is equal to +0.6% for the general index and +1.7% for the underlying component.
Based on preliminary estimates, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) increases by 0.6% on a monthly basis, due to the end of the seasonal sales, which the NIC does not take into account, which partly continued into March, and by 1.0% on an annual basis (from +1.2% in the previous month).
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In April, according to preliminary estimates, inflation will fall again, reaching 0.9%. The slight deceleration is mostly affected by the trend in prices of non-regulated energy goods (-13.9% from -10.3% in March) and transport-related services (+2.9% from +4.5%). Food prices also slowed slightly (+2.6% from +2.7%). On the other hand, the prices of regulated energy goods show a strong trend recovery (+0.8% from -13.8%), despite the economic decline (-8.2%). The dynamics of the “shopping cart” prices on an annual basis also continued its decline in April (+2.4% from +2.6%), while underlying inflation stood at +2.2% (from +2.3%).
